Seasons

I live in Canada and one thing you can be sure about about in Canada is the seasons. It is very clear what season you are in because they are so distinct. But seasons apply to more than just our weather. In fact, understanding seasons is important as we walk into our dreams.  

An ancient teaching about seasons says, 'there is a season for everything and a time for every purpose under heaven' - things like being born and dying, planting and harvesting, weeping and laughing, building and tearing down, searching and giving up, keeping and throwing away, speaking and being silent. There is also a season for putting different pieces of your dream together

The nature of seasons is that when things are in season they tend to go well. When they are out of season, they may not work at all or it may take a lot more effort to get the same result. 

Early in my career I was hired into a new environmental position at a progressive city north of Toronto. There were very few staff in environmental positions in cities at that time and I remember discussing with other staff how much effort it took to get any environmental initiative to move forward. It was early in the season. 

Years later, progress in the environmental field was so rapid that we had to be selective about which environmental initiative to support because there was so much happening all at once. The season had changed. 

Our response to seasons should be to try to learn to recognize and work within the season we are in rather than trying to force the season to change. Just like a farmer watches and waits for the right signs in the spring to prepare fields and plant, and waits for the right conditions to harvest in the fall, each season for your dream will have its own signs that you can learn to recognize.  

People with a dream who launch it without first taking the time to prepare the ground or think about whether the conditions are right should not be surprised when there is very little growth. In contrast, paying attention to conditions and preparing for your dream during the right season is like collecting empty containers.  When the season changes and the conditions are right, you can expect rapid growth towards your dream. In fact, one of the most productive strategies for growth is to recognize and be ready to respond when a season is about to change.

There are some things that there is never a season for - like passivity and blame. Passivity and blame are escapes that need to be closed or they will get in the way of being able to recognize and respond to changing seasons.  It is important to remember that our responses to seasons may be different, but they should always be active. 

The Power of Story

Stories are all around us. We read them in the news and in books.  We watch them on the stage or on screens.  We hear them in music and over meals with family and friends. There are ancient stories and modern stories, biographies and autobiographies...

Stories are powerful. Understanding how stories work is important to putting the pieces of your dream together. Last week we introduced reflection as a key to our unfolding story. We talked about how we each have a story that is in the process of being written and how reflection helps us to understand ourselves and to influence the chapters that are still to come.

"As a man believes in his heart, so is he"

So how well do you know your story? Who are the key characters? Can you see the themes that run like threads through your story? Are you aware of how your higher purpose, personal vision and core values are being expressed in your story? 

Many people I have talked to have a hard time answering those questions. I know that I do. Those who choose to honestly reflect on their lives often feel they are drifting or wandering on the edge of something great. That is not surprising. 

There are a lot of things that work to suppress our stories.

1) The stories that others have told us about ourselves.

2) The stories that we tell about ourselves.

3) The time that we spend immersed in stories, rather than engaging in our own story.

All great stories begin with someone living in an 'ordinary' world, not recognizing that they are on the edge of something bigger than them. Then, when it looks like nothing will ever change, the opportunity comes to say 'yes' to an unlikely call - a call that will become the adventure of their life and ultimately fulfill their dream.

Some of my favourite stories through the years.

There is much more to stories than the beginning, but every great story, like yours, has to begin somewhere.  I will talk more about our unfolding stories in another post.  For now, here are some questions to reflect on.  Whose story are you living so far - your's or someone else's?  And where are you in your story? 

Reflection

It has been three months since I launched The Daniel Mosaic and I want to thank each one of you who have visited my blog. I am grateful for your interest and all the encouragement I have received.  

I also want to take a few moments to reflect. You see reflection is an important strategy as you put the pieces of your dream together. In today's fast paced, results-oriented environment, you will need to set aside time to reflect on what you have accomplished. It may seem like an impossible sacrifice of time at first but it will be worth it.

So why is reflection important? Here are some of my thoughts:

Reflection helps us go from being a knower to becoming a learner. It helps us to take a deeper look at what worked well, what didn't work well and why? Without regular reflection it is easy to get off course without knowing it. 

"Reflect...and you will gain insight"

Reflection provides the opportunity to re-interpret events and accomplishments that happened in the past from the perspective of your higher purpose. For example, it was a slow process to develop and launch this blog three months ago. In my own painstakingly cautious way, I was figuring out many things for the first time and I questioned whether it was the right thing for me. Now looking back on that time, what I see is that I actually did it, and that the writing and posting has been life-giving and deeply meaningful to me.

Reflection is key to our unfolding story. We each have a story that is in the process of being written. Reflection helps us to understand ourselves and to influence the chapters that are still to come.

As I finish this week's post, why don't you also reflect on your last three months. What strategies have inspired you or helped you move forward? What steps have you taken towards your dream? And what is the next thing that you know that you need to do?

Core Values

As you put the pieces of your dream together you will need to engage with more and more of yourself. Fortunately we all possess much more potential than we have been using - especially as we begin to close escapes that have been stealing from us. So how do we learn what lies hidden or dormant inside of us? One fun way to do this is by exploring your core values. 

Core values build upon the personal vision that we talked about a few weeks ago. They help us to learn more deeply who we are and what motivates us. They can also help you to understand your dream and why it is that your dream, among so many potential dreams, is important to you.

But more than that, our core values are custom made strategies for walking into our dreams - like 'superpowers' that we can call upon when we most need them. 

So how do these powers work? Here's an example of how it works for me...

Say I am having a hard time moving forward with something new (which happens often with me). Rather than getting overwhelmed and discouraged by personal obstacles that seem too big for me to handle, I can remind myself that adventure and challenge require something to overcome, and creativity thrives where solutions are not obvious. Wow, those are three of my core values!

The next step is where something dramatic happens. As I am reminded that the new thing that I am facing is an opportunity for what is most important and meaningful to me (adventure, challenge, creativity), it becomes something that I can embrace. It actually transforms the situation into something that I love doing. 

Finally, when I love doing something, I am much more likely to spend time and energy investing in it, which increases the chance that the new thing that had overwhelmed and discouraged me at first will succeed. 

If you are interested in exploring your 'superpowers' you can find a list of core value cards to print off here. Once you have printed them off, you simply sort them into three categories: Not Important to Me, Important to Me and Very Important to Me. You are finished when you end up with no more than ten values in the Very Important to Me pile. Now, write them down and start practicing using them...a superhero costume is optional. 

Empty Containers

An ancient story tells about a widow who was left in debt after her husband died.  She had only a small jar of oil to her name and the creditors were coming to take her two sons away to sell into slavery. The woman asked the local prophet what she should do - 'go to your neighbours and and collect as many empty clay jars as you can' was his answer.  

At this point in time, I would have been questioning - what use are borrowed empty jars? The secret to this strategy is what the empty jars represented - they were physical expressions of possibility.  Put another way, they were containers that were ready to be filled.  

Life proceeds through seasons and some seasons are more productive than others. But productive seasons will only benefit you and your dream when you have prepared containers to hold the opportunities that come your way. 

So what are some examples of 'empty containers'?

1) How about telling some key people about your dream? Their advice or connections may result in unexpected resources flowing your way.

2) Rather than staking everything on one idea, try to develop other alternatives to move your dream forward. You never know which idea will be the one that moves you forward.  

"In the morning plant your seeds. In the evening keep your hands busy. You don't know what will succeed. It may be one or the other. Or both might do equally well."

3) Prepare a funding proposal. There is lots of money out there for good ideas. I will talk more about the opportunity to apply for grants in an upcoming post. But for now, just the process of preparing a funding proposal will help get you ready to attract the resources you need.

The story about the widow in debt ended well. Once she had collected many jars she went into her house and closed the door. She started pouring the oil from her small jar into the empty jars and the oil kept flowing until all the empty jars she had collected were full. Then it stopped. She sold the oil and paid off the debt.